Subject Guide

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About the Judaica Collection at the University of Michigan

Who We Are

The Judaica holdings of the University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library are rich and extensive. Over the years, the Judaica and Hebraica components have developed into a diverse and independent collection that supports students, researchers, and the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. The Library's Judaica collection has grown into one that can be favorably compared in depth and title count with the larger collections in other major North American universities and research institutions. Assistance is available for reference and research and staff can help locate primary research materials at other institutions. The Judaica-Hebraica Unit of the International Studies (formerly Area Programs) Division is headed by Elliot H. Gertel, the Irving M. Hermelin Curator of Judaica.

Our Collection

Our collection includes more than 55,000 titles in Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as Ladino, Aramaic, and other Jewish languages. Western language Judaica holdings number approximately 43,000. The collection is particularly strong in Modern Hebrew literature, Jewish history, the history of Israel, Judaism, and Hebrew bible studies. Annually, the library adds about 1,000 Hebrew and Yiddish titles to the collection and 1,500 Jewish studies titles in Western languages. The collection is primarily housed in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, including Special Collections, but Judaica can be found in virtually all of the other campus libraries, including Art, Architecture, and Engineering; Askwith Media Library; Bentley Historical Library; Clements; Fine Arts; Kresge Business Library; Law; Taubman Medical Library; Social Work; and Shapiro Undergraduate and Science Libraries. Items can be located by subject classification and corresponding call number.

Notable Acquisitions

Notable acquisitions include the 5,000 title microfiche collection, Hebrew Books from the Harvard College Library; the ten-volume set Catalog of the Hebrew Collection: Harvard College Library, the Poalei Zion and Bund Archives microfiche collections; the 550 item Leo W. Schwarz Collection, which is rich in rare material on Jewish mysticism, hasidut, and publications by and for residents of post-World War II displaced persons camps in Germany; the entire runs in microformat of the Jewish Daily Forward and the Jerusalem Post and its predecessors as well as the Morgen-zshurnal from 1906 until it merged in 1953 with another Yiddish daily, Der Tog. The Judaica-Hebraica Unit also provides access to a number of electronic Web resources through this guide and through MIRLYN; some resources are open-access while others are limited to current University of Michigan faculty, staff and students.

Gifts and Collection Development

In a continuing effort to enrich the collection, staff also cultivates contacts with the local community for the purpose of soliciting gift material acquisitions and fund development for the Library. Over the years, the Library's book acquisitions funds have been supplemented by several Judaica trust funds, including those endowed by Beverly Baker; Martha and Stuart Bindeman; Frances and Hubert J. Brandt; the S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation; the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation; Dr. Arnold Heyman; Jerold Solovy; and Bruce and Ileane Thal; and gifts from Bruce and Lois Zenkel; the Bindeman Family; and Frances and Kathryn Brandt and Lilith Magazine, especially the Brandt and Lilith Magazine Women's Holocaust Memoir Collection, an ongoing, open-ended gift.